Disc Reviews

Extraterrestrial Review

• 4th Mar 2015

Group of youths head to a cabin in the woods, monsters appear, violence ensues. Yeah ok we’ve been here before. But Extraterrestrial brings its own bag of tricks to help entertain audiences beyond what you might expect from this familiar idea.

Don’t get us wrong. This isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, and there is still a lot of what is often trite on screen. There are a couple of supporting characters so two dimensionally drawn that you just cannot wait for them to exit the picture. There is some horrid staging with characters entering the frame in a fashion that will have you scratching your head wondering who was in charge of the visual continuity. But there are also some treats in store.

Michael Ironside has been a very nonexistent entity on screen for some time now – often popping up as grumpy military leader (Terminator Salvation/ X-Men: First Class), but here gets to steal scenes as a weed growing paranoid local (and perhaps doing a slight Jack Nicholson impression which he is at it). Gil Bellows as the local law enforcer is also decent value adding much needed pathos to the film.

The chills and spills are creatively realised, and the film narrative is unpredictable enough to keep audience’s attention and entertained.

Extraterrestrial is surprisingly good fun, and often surprising.

Steven Hurst